WHAT does Trump protectionism mean to auto makers in PH?

Carmaker under pressure not to build factories outside US

WASHINGTON— Pressure from President-elect Donald Trump is bearing down on one of the world’s biggest auto makers to stop building factories outside the United States in a sign of what the rest of the world, including the Philippines, can expect from a Trump presidency.

Trump, in a tweet, said Ford Motor Co. executive chair Bill Ford Jr. told him that Ford would not move a Kentucky plant to Mexico, but the firm said it informed him the decision was to keep one vehicle in US production.

On Thursday, Trump posted on Twitter: “I worked hard with Bill Ford to keep the Lincoln plant in Kentucky. I owed it to the great state of Kentucky for their confidence in me!”

“He will be keeping the Lincoln plant in Kentucky—no Mexico,” the Presidentelect tweeted.

But Ford has repeatedly said it has no plans to close any US plants and likely could not do so under the terms of the current United Auto Workers contract that expires in 2019.

This is not the first time Trump’s comments about Ford production have been called into question. Last year, he took credit for Ford moving work from Mexico to Ohio, while Ford had already made the decision in 2011—long before Trump announced a run for president.

Spokesperson Christin Baker said Ford “confirmed with the President-elect that our small Lincoln utility vehicle made at the Louisville Assembly plant will stay in Kentucky.”

“We are encouraged that Presidentelect Trump and the new Congress will pursue policies that will improve US competitiveness,” she added in a statement.

The company builds both the Ford Escape and Lincoln MKC SUV at its Louisville Assembly Plant in Kentucky, which Trump refers to as the “Lincoln plant” and where Ford employs about 4,700 people. It also has a separate truck plant in Louisville, where it builds pickups and larger SUVs.

It is not clear how many jobs would have been impacted if the low-selling MKC had moved to Mexico.

The US No. 2 automaker is planning to move some small-car production south of the border.

Ford has endured scathing criticism from Trump over its Mexican investments for nearly 18 months.

He has said at times incorrectly that Ford planned to fire American workers because of its Mexican investments. During his presidential campaign, the Republican candidate also said that if elected he would not allow Ford to open a new plant in Mexico and would slap hefty tariffs on any Ford vehicles made there.

A Trump spokeswoman did not immediately respond to questions about whether Ford’s decision to keep production of an SUV in the United States would cause him to drop plans to impose tariffs on some Ford vehicles built in Mexico.

In April 2015, Ford said it planned to invest $2.5 billion to build two new plants in Mexico, adding 3,800 jobs in all.